Cafe TuTu Tango A Gastric Bypass Restaurant Review

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As a person who has had a gastric bypass procedure, it can sometimes be challenging to find something on the menu at a mainstream restaurant that I can – or want to – eat. As an overweight person, I didn’t realize how absolutely HUGE the portions can be at restaurants, so no matter where I go now, I end up taking most of my meal home with me – and even doing that, much of it ends up going to waste. I try to steer clear of the things that are fried, things that have rice or pasta, anything with bread. It really does wake you up to the fact that my options are limited wherever we go.

Cafe TuTu Tango was one of our favorite places to get a bite to eat when we lived in Orlando. Jim even organized an office Christmas party there one year, and everyone had a blast. While driving down International Drive in Orlando during our recent trip, thinking we might find a new restaurant to try, Cafe TuTu Tango popped up and a quick decision was made to revisit our old stomping grounds.

The “theme” of Tutu Tango is “Food for the Starving Artist”. Everything here is served tapas style – or appetizer sized. This keeps the cost of getting something to eat at a reasonable level, and it allows you to try a couple of things, or a table to try several things, that can be passed and shared. This place is a gastric bypass patient’s dream come true!

On our lunch visit, we walked in to find the restaurant virtually empty. We were quickly seated, and both girls given crayons and pictures of Backyardigans characters to color. Granuaile LOVES the Backyardigans, and she was thrilled. Jim and I browsed the menu, and quickly discouraged Eilis from ordering off of the children’s menu and allowing us to pick some things we thought she might like to try. The kids’ menu at Cafe TuTu Tango is similar to every other children’s menu you’ve seen – heavy on the fried and fatty. Any kid would be glad to have something – corn dogs, chicken strips, the usual fare. But we’re emphasizing healthy eating, and the adult menu has a bigger variety of better for you choices.

The specials menu features a hummus with pita chips, and it’s only $3 for a good sized portion. I order that, as I currently love hummus, but Eilis apparently enjoys it as well and is scooping up quite a bit of it on the tiny pitas and pita chips. Jim orders a bowl of black bean soup for he and I to share, and I have to say, of all the foods we ate, this was the one disappointment for me. There was an overwhelming citrusy taste to it, and very little of any other flavor. I felt like I should add salt, but then didn’t want to add salt because it tasted so citrusy that I thought the salt would make it taste funny. Jim ended up with the whole bowl after I braved a second bite to determine I really didn’t like it.

The kids practically devoured the shrimp and chicken potstickers, which you can order steamed like we did or deep fried. Eilis didn’t even try the sauce until the very end, and then was dipping everything into it. We also ordered a chicken pizza to give the kids something familiar. The flavorful, thin crusted pizza had chunks of chicken, carmelized onion, and three cheeses. The chicken pizza is a white pizza with a nice garlicky flavor. Another big hit was the scallops – broiled to perfection and with a lime sauce that was really tasty. Scallops are one of the foods I can easily eat, and after sharing one of the large scallops between Granuaile and Eilis, I ate one whole one myself and split the last one with Jim.

With drinks – a very nicely flavored unsweetened ice tea for me, and sodas for the kids (Jim only drinks water), and a magnificent looking dessert of banana pizza (bananas, caramel, and ice cream atop a pizza crust), the bill came to about $50 for the 4 of us. Because the portions are smaller sized, there really is no waste for someone who has a compromised gastrointestinal tract like we do after weight loss surgery, and you really can choose from a good selection of proteins, salads, the soup (there are two on the menu). I would have been more than content with the scallop dish and a small salad (there are 5 salads on the menu, and 3 contain some form of protein) if I was there eating alone, but had PLENTY to eat even in choosing foods I knew the kids would like. The pizza crust is thin enough that I could easily eat it without getting sick, which a lot of pizza crust can do to me, and there are many other options on the menu I could have tried with a table full of WLS patients that would have skipped any type of bread/crust at all.

The added bonus to Cafe TuTu Tango is they feature art work throughout the restaurant from local artists. You can purchase any of the pieces on display, and you really get a good sampling of local talent – in everything from sculpture to painting.

This is definitely a must do restaurant for Gastric Bypass patients – and anyone who is looking for a menu filled with delicious surprises, international flavors and eclectic flair.